The Grand Secretary's statement regarding a brief history of the Grand Master's Order of Service to Masonry, with particular reference to the distinguished service given by Graham Redman.
Most Worshipful Pro Grand Master and Brethren
At the Quarterly Communication in June 1945, the Grand Secretary read out this message from the Grand Master, the Earl of Harewood:
It is my desire to have power to confer on Brethren who have rendered special service to Freemasonry a distinction to be known as The Grand Master's Order of Service to Masonry.
With that power, the Grand Master would, from time to time, determine the limit to be placed upon the number of holders of the Order, and Lord Harewood accordingly proposed that 'the present limit be twelve'. Not surprisingly, the Grand Master's wish was immediately granted.
At present, there are eight holders of the Order.
Normally, once the Grand Master's decision is made known to the Grand Secretary, he sends an invitation to the intended recipient to check that he is willing to accept the award. I am not aware that anyone has yet declined to accept this very special honour. I am told, however, that there was one occasion when an invitation was not issued, but – to avoid the risk that the intended recipient might refuse it - the Grand Master's decision was announced at the meeting of the Grand Master's Council, which immediately preceded the Quarterly Communication at which the honour was to be conferred. The Brother in question was Sir James Stubbs, the previous Grand Secretary, present in his capacity as an ad hominem member of the Council and, in whose opinion, the honour should not be awarded to any current or former employee of the Grand Lodge.
The Council pointed out that the award was also for his services to Masonry since his retirement. Over trumped, as it were, and for once outwitted, Brother Stubbs accepted the Order. The citation was read out in Grand Lodge, and Stubbs was invested.
Brethren, the Grand Master has now decided that the honour should be conferred upon the longest-serving full-time member of the Grand Secretary's staff, despite my great predecessor's opinion. That Brother has also not been sent an invitation, although I did send him a driver to ensure he was able to attend Grand Lodge today.
He is known personally to many of us here and by reputation to many more across our Constitution and overseas. He has given exceptional service to the Craft and many of our Companion orders, but especially to the High Rulers of 'pure Antient Masonry'. He has served in his inimitable way eight Presidents of the Board of General Purposes, seven Grand Secretaries, 5 Pro Grand Masters and one Grand Master. His knowledge, wisdom, advice, fortitude, hard work, trustworthiness and wit are legendary.
He started work here as an Assistant Grand Secretary in 1988, and he has been, of course, our senior Deputy Grand Secretary since 2013: Very Worshipful Brother Graham Frederick Redman.
Graham Redman was Initiated in 1973 in Bedford in his school Lodge, the aptly named Old Bedfordian Lodge No.4732 when he was 24 years old. By then, he had read for a degree in classics at The Queen's College Oxford. He went on to read for the Bar and was called to the Middle Temple in 1974, the year in which he joined Emulation Lodge of Improvement. Such was his early grasp of the ritual that he earned his silver matchbox the following year. Many years later, Brother Redman published Emulation Working Today, a personal guide to learning and delivering ritual, together with advice for every officer of a Craft Lodge.
Before joining the Grand Secretary's Office, Brother Redman spent several years as a lawyer in industry. Here, he has since applied his legal skills to servicing the Grand Master's Council, the Board of General Purposes, the Commission for Appeals Courts and the Panel for Clemency. He has also drafted amendments and additions to the Book of Constitutions, that work which, we are told, will help answer most of our questions. In fact, for the day-to-day work of a Freemason, Brother Redman's second major work, his Masonic Etiquette Today: A Modern Guide to Masonic Protocol and Practice, first published in 2009, is indispensable and actually does answer most of our questions. I was extremely touched that on my first day as Grand Secretary, Graham kindly delivered a copy to my office and advised me that on purchasing it from the shop, he would then sign it with an appropriate message, which, depending on how I perform in the office, will be amended over time. His vocal powers are legendary and have been often demonstrated when reading many a new lodge's Warrant at its Consecration – and experienced by those of us within range when the National Anthem is sung in Grand Lodge.
Brother Redman is currently a member of 7 Craft Lodges and has been Master of 7 Craft Lodges, and is an honorary member of another 40 Craft Lodges. He is currently a member of 2 Royal Arch Chapters and has been MEZ of 5 Chapters, the most recent of which, Oxford and Cambridge University, London, only concludes tonight. He was a Grand Steward in 1984 (when I was still taking my A levels at school), was appointed as Assistant Grand Registrar in 1986, and was promoted to Past Grand Sword Bearer in 2002 and Past Grand Scribe N in 2017.
Brethren, I am sure you will all agree his service to Masonry has indeed been, by any and every measure, truly exceptional and well and worthy of emulation!
